Create a list
Type a name into the New list row, then give it the properties it needs.
A list in Roma is a container with a name, instructions and properties, and every item on it carries those properties. You create one by typing its name into the New list row, or by describing it to your operator. A new list is born with a Status and a Due date, so it holds tasks from its first minute, and you reshape it in Edit list.
The New list row
On the Mac and in the browser, right-click the Lists heading in the sidebar and pick New list, pick it from the sidebar's create menu, press New on the Lists page, or press Create a list in a section that holds nothing yet. A row opens at the top of Lists. Type the name, press Enter, and the list opens in the tab you are in with its row selected. An empty row, or Escape, discards it.
On your iPhone, open the Lists tab (or More, then Lists) and tap the plus, or pick New list from the plus on the Chat tab or on More. The row opens at the top of the Lists page. Type the name and press Return, and the new list sits first in Lists.
Ask your operator
Describe the shape and the operator creates the list with its properties: "create a list of the books I'm reading, with the author, a rating and whether I've finished". A list is for things that repeat with the same fields, like films, books, expenses or people, and the operator creates one when you name a shape or a kind of list the world keeps ("a movies list"). The bare word "list" is not enough: "a list of people to call this week" is one task with a checklist in its body, because it does not repeat.
Shape it in Edit list
Edit list is where a list's shape lives, and the only place: an item fills properties in and never adds one. On the Mac and in the browser, open the settings menu at the end of the list's bar (the sliders icon) and pick Edit list, and the form takes the list's place on the page. Right-clicking the list in the sidebar and picking Edit list opens the same form in a pane. On your iPhone, open the list's settings menu and pick Edit list.
What it holds:
The name and the icon.
The title column's word. Every item has a title. On a reading list you might head the column Book, on a contacts list Name.
Properties. Add, rename, update the type, reorder and delete them. A new list starts with Status and Due date, which you can delete here like any property, and add back later. The kinds and their rules are in properties.
Assist with new items. On by default: the operator picks up each new item you add, with a first turn that asks one question or does the first step. Switched off, items are added quietly.
Clean up new items. On by default: Roma tidies the title of each new item you type here, reads the due date out of the words and fills its properties. Switched off, the title stays exactly as typed.
Instructions. What this list is for and how Roma should handle what lands in it, up to 500 characters. The operator reads them whenever it files an item here, fills its properties or talks about the list, so "restaurants we want to try, with the city" teaches it the list in one line.
Pick a layout
A new list opens as the list layout with compact rows. On the Mac and in the browser you can switch it to a board or a table, choose a sort and a filter, and hide properties, and all of it is saved on the list, so every device opens it the same way. The three layouts are in list, board and table layouts.
Fill it
Type into the New item row at the head of the list. On a list with properties, Roma names the item from your words and fills the properties it can read: "Dune, fiction, 5 stars" on a reading list with a Genre and a Rating becomes Dune with both set. Tell the operator "add Dune to my reading list" and it does the same. Or move items from other lists onto it.
The two lists you start with
Tasks is the one list with a fixed name, and it cannot be deleted. Its Status and Due date stay as they are, though you can add properties beside them as on any list. Notes is a plain list without properties, and you can rename, archive or delete it like any other. Everything else is yours to rename, archive or delete. Deleting a list asks first and names the list and every item on it, and a deleted list stays recoverable for about 30 days (deleted tasks, notes and lists). Where a list sits in the sidebar, in a section, pinned or among your favorites, is in sections, pins and favorites.
Questions people ask
Does a new list have to be a task list?
No. It starts with a Status and a Due date so it can hold tasks at once, and both are properties like any other on a list you created. Delete them in Edit list and add the properties you need, and the list's items are plain items with no status icon and no due date.
What are a list's instructions for?
They are the list's standing words to the operator, in your own words. The operator reads them when it decides which list a capture belongs on, when it fills an item's properties, and when it talks about the list, so a line like "receipts I need for the tax return, with the amount and the date" is enough to teach it.
Can I rename the Tasks list?
No. Tasks keeps its name, its place in the sidebar and its Status and Due date. Every other list, the Notes list included, can be renamed in Edit list.
Where do my lists show up?
Under Lists in the sidebar on the Mac and in the browser, and on the Lists page on your iPhone, with the count of open items beside each. Your operator sees them too, with their properties and instructions, so you can name any of them in a sentence.